Craig Technologies CEO Carol Craig Named Florida Small Business Person of the Year
Engineering and Technology Company’s new Manufacturing Division Going Global With Assistance from the FSBDC at UCF
May 4, 2015
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Hal Thayer, Communications Director, FSBDC at UCF, 407.420.4850 or hthayer@ucf.edu
Carol Craig has done it all. And she has only just begun. But for now, based upon her leadership, business success and service to the community, she has been named the SBA’s Small Business Person of the Year for the State of Florida and is a finalist for the SBA’s highly-regarded national Small Business Person of the Year award.
Carol is CEO of Craig Technologies, an engineering, technology and manufacturing business that she founded in 1999 and has built it to approximately 430 employees and $40 million in revenues. She is or has been on the boards of at least 27 different community and/or charitable institutions. She chose to relocate and expand her business in the City of Cape Canaveral, partly to tap into the highly talented workforce living on the Space Coast but also, and more importantly, as a means to spur economic development in her community that was so negatively affected by the end of the Shuttle program. And she is a wife and mom, deeply involved in her family and raising her children.
Initially, Craig Technologies was a high-end engineering and technical services company serving military and commercial customers. Over the past 15 years, as the company’s reputation for delivering high-quality products and exceptional customer service has grown, Carol has reinvested profits that enabled the company to add product lines and divisions – all based on Craig Technologies’ ability to support projects from concept to real world application with end-users in mind. To help her along, over this period Carol attended seminars, participated in events and received government contracting consulting from the FSBDC at UCF’s sub center at Eastern Florida State College.
Most recently, Carol has diversified the business from its engineering and technical services base to precision manufacturing. The company has expanded and enhances its’ existing capabilities to create a complete supply chain solution, extending from design engineering, R&D and prototype development to full scale manufacturing, acceptance testing and product delivery.
It was during this time that Craig Technologies partnered with the Florida SBDC at UCF, supported by Enterprise Florida, to develop an international marketing strategy. Working with Jill McLaughlin, the FSBDC’s International Trade Consultant, the company took advantage of what Carol calls a “great opportunity” to develop an Export Marketing Plan. The Plan targeted foreign markets for Craig, recommended market entry strategies and opportunities for identifying trading partners. “The plan gives a really good basis and foundation for our global push,” Carol says. “We can now go to the international markets with confidence and be far more competitive.”
When asked about her experience with FSBDC, Carol states, “I would tell other business owners to take advantage of the SBDC now, even if you think you don’t have the time. It’s important. They have great programs and will shorten the amount of time it takes to succeed.”
As for her award, Carol concluded by saying, “I am extremely honored to be recognized as the Florida Small Business Person of the Year, not only personally and for my company, but also because it highlights that Brevard County is significant, we are growing and we have new and great things going on here.”
— FSBDC —
About the FSBDC at UCF
With its main office in the National Entrepreneur Center located at the Fashion Square Mall in Orlando, the Florida SBDC at the University of Central Florida (FSBDC at UCF) is part of the UCF Office of Research & Commercialization and the Florida SBDC Network (FSBDC Network). THE FSBDC at UCF provides business seminars and no-cost, one-on-one business consultation to emerging and established businesses. The FSBDC at UCF serves an eight-county area that includes Brevard, Flagler, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole, Sumter, and Volusia counties and maintains 10 service centers across Central Florida.
In 2013, the FSBDC at UCF served more than 7,200 entrepreneurs and small business owners through consulting and training, resulting in 7,507 Central Florida jobs created, retained or saved; $1.0 billion in sales growth; $51.5 million in capital formation; $87.7 million in government contract awards; and 129 new businesses started.
About the FSBDC Network
The FSBDC at UCF is a member of the Florida SBDC Network, a statewide service network funded in part through cooperative agreements with the U.S. Small Business Administration, Defense Logistics Agency, State of Florida and other private and public partners. The Florida SBDC Network is hosted by the University of West Florida and is nationally accredited by the Association of SBDCs. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.
For over 35 years, the FSBDC Network has nourished a statewide partnership between higher education and economic development organizations, dedicated to providing emerging and established business owners with management and technical assistance, enabling overall growth and increased profitability for the businesses and economic prosperity for the state. The FSBDC Network is a statewide service system of 41 centers with 60 outreach locations, including the FSBDC at UCF.
In 2013, the Florida SBDCs served over 34,000 entrepreneurs and small business owners through consulting and training, resulting in 39,536 jobs created, retained and saved; $5.5 billion in sales growth; $197.3 million in capital accessed; $602.2 million in government contract awards; and 685 new businesses started. And, for every $1 of Florida public and private sector investment in FSBDC programing, $35 was returned to the state in tax revenue
FSBDC at UCF | 3201 E. Colonial Drive | Orlando, FL 32801 | p 407.420.4850 | f 407.420.4862
